Welcome to the September edition of the TravellingTwo bike touring newsletter.
Our 2-week tour of Denmark was fantastic. You can read all about the superb scenery, food and wild camping spots we experienced. We can highly recommend this under-rated country as a top bike touring destination.
Now, we’re settling into autumn with a few goals in mind. The biggest one is to build some new touring bikes, and this project starts with our upcoming trip to the north of the Netherlands, where we’ll learn to build a wheel with Marten Gerritsen. These new wheels will have dynamos, making it possible for us to generate our own electricity to charge cameras and other gadgets on the road.
We’ll keep you posted on how our bike building goes!
In the meantime, enjoy our most recent post on TravellingTwo, as well as our tip of the month and a featured bike tourist… all in this newsletter. Tailwinds and happy touring!
Recent Posts
- Making A Tarp For Just $5 – See how we made a tarp for just $5, to help keep us dry on our latest bike tour
- Cycling Into Istanbul– Many people take the main highway into Turkey’s biggest city, but that’s not necessary. There’s a much quieter and more enjoyable way.
- Bike Touring In Patagonia – Two cyclists tell us about a 3,000km bike tour in Patagonia, South America.
- Lightening The Load – Steve dropped 20kg of weight from his panniers. See what he threw out, to ease the burden on his bike and his body.
Tip Of The Month – Lightweight Spice Kit
On a short bike tour, you only need small quantities of spices for cooking. What’s the best way to carry a few spoonfuls of various spices?
The simple drinking straw is one cost-effective option.
Just use a lighter or a bit of scotch tape to close up one end, and fill with your selected spice (you can make a cone funnel by rolling a piece of paper to make this easier).
Close the top end of the straw in the same way as you sealed the bottom of the straw. Presto! The perfect amount of spice for a few meals.
This YouTube video shows how to make your own lightweight spice kit with straws, and this Instructables article gives another variation on the same idea.
Gear We Love – Waterproof Socks
There’s nothing worse than soggy feet when you’re riding your bike on a rainy day. That’s why we love our Sealskinz Socks so much.
We might go several months without wearing them, and they’re a bit expensive for socks, but when the heavens open and the rain pours down, it feels incredibly comfortable to put a pair of these socks on our feet.
You can cycle happily in the rain for hours with waterproof socks. Even if your shoes get soaked, your feet stay dry and warm. When we pull these socks on in the tent at night after a long, damp day it feels like putting on a pair of slippers.
We have relatively thick waterproof socks – ideal for riding in cooler weather. If you do a lot of wet summer riding, however, you may prefer to get a thinner version.
See the Sealskinz socks we bought at Wiggle, and a similar version sold by REI.
Featured Bike Tourist Blog – Around The World With Luca
Linda, Phil and their 2 year old son Luca have just set off on a world bike trip. Currently cycling along the Danube, this young family will go all the way to Istanbul by bike. From there, South East Asia, Australia and both North and South America are on the agenda.
Quite the journey! They’ve only just started, but already we’re enjoying their blog. It’s especially interesting if you hope to tour with kids. In one entry, Linda and Phil talk about how they’ve adjusted their routine to make sure Luca is having a good time.
“We’ve averaged around 250km each week, usually managing to fit one rest day in per week. Luca has really settled into the cycling routine and loves it. He has become an expert tractor and farm animal spotter! But we try to give him as much play time off the bikes as possible, so we tend to set off late enough in the morning…. any other cyclists in the campsite are well gone by the time we’re ready to go. But this gives Luca time to play in the playground or to have a swim. We also set up camp by early evening if possible, to allow him another chance to play and run around.”
Check out Around The World With Luca for more on their journey.
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